Ability Sequence

Threats to LeBlanc with this build

Should be a certain win. Just go in whenever his Pick a Card (W) is down.

2

Akali

Easy, just destroy her early game, don't even let her farm. Zone her out all the time when your abilities are up.

3

Ekko

Ekko is pretty easy for Leblanc. Just make sure you don't get caught in his W stun and you should come out better in all your trades. Locking him down with chains at level 6 will also stop him from being able to use his ult too.

3

Aurelion Sol

Aurelion isn't really a hard match up for Leblanc at all. His trades are week compared to hers. Most Aurelion Sol players will be shoving you in under turret constantly. Just find an opening to all in him and the lane should be free.

3

Vladimir

From what I've experienced this is quite an easy match up. Always chain first so that if he pools it'll still root him and you can apply the rest of your combo when he comes up. Don't let him harass you with his enhanced passive damage (always back off when he has a full red bar). Always take ignite against Vladimir.

4

Ryze

Ryze isn't so bad now since the Leblanc revert. Before, Ryze could negate Leblanc's combo because of the 1.5 sec passive. Now, Leblanc damage is instant so it makes it harder for Ryze to fight back in lane.

4

Azir

Not really hard, he might poke you early but as soon as he uses his Q on you, walk up to him and start dealing damage. Don't let him get away with abusing his Q on you.

4

Fizz

Fizz is ok match up for Leblanc. If she can dodge fizz's E's and Q's with her W's and chain Fizz up without letting Fizz get on top of her then Leblanc should have no problem with this match up. Be careful at level 6 though and save your W's for when he uses his ult, you don't want to get caught by Fizz's shark.

5

Ahri

More of skill matchup. Don't get hit by charms and you should be ok.

5

Katarina

Another skill based match up, but you can go hard on her early game as long as you avoid passive daggers. Chains work well on Katarina.

5

Syndra

Skill/reaction match up for Syndra. If she E's your W when you're going in for her. She'll beat you, otherwise if she wastes her E, go hard on her.

6

Zed

Mainly a skill match up, save at least 1 distortion for the level 6 just so you can get away from him if he ults you. Go hard on him early game too.

6

Lux

Mainly a skill match up. Dodge her stun, you'll get the better trade. Hit your chain you'll get the better trade. Don't burst her when she uses her W (shield) otherwise she'll negate most of your damage. Don't start trading with her until level 3 since she has more damage due to her passive.

7

Galio

This match up is mainly based on reactions but LeBlanc does still struggle against Galio because he is an anti-mage champion. If Galio can taunt Leblanc when she W's in, he will win the trades. If Galio can't do this, you should be able to get a free trade onto him if you dodge his charge.

7

Yasuo

Yasuo is a weird matchup but it can work in favour for Leblanc if played well. Bait windwalls out with Q/autos. Land chains on him(very important). If he windwalls your chains, you'll be forced to dash or flash away.

7

Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia is a semi-tricky match up. Once you've gone in, you really need to commit for the kill otherwise she will out DPS you. Reason for this is when you go in with your W, cassio can then place her W on your W image and will ground you once you've returned allowing her to get easy Q-E spams on you. Either wait for her W to go on cooldown or all in her.

7

Malzahar

Was pretty hard for the reworked Leblanc but since her damage in now instant, you won't have to take heavy trades from Malzahar. I'd recommend building a QSS if you get focused hard during teamfights and you're not able to one shot him before you get your full combo off.

7

Zoe

Weird match up. If you can avoid being hit by her sleep ability then you can practically avoid most of her damage, and get all of your combo off too. If you hit your chains up close to her past level 6 this can restrict her from getting out of range when she decides to use her R blink ability.

8

Kassadin

Quite a hard matchup since he can deny your (Q + W) burst in laning phase. Land chains at level 6 and you can kill him from there onwards. Try get your jungler to gank as many times as possible early game. You should then be able to snowball towards the mid game.

8

Morgana

Very annoying match up, pushes you in constantly with her W. Uses her Black Shield for your Q+W combo. And can also CC with her Q which is bad for any assassin. Would recommend asking for ganks with this match up

8

Anivia

I would highly suggest you get her egg off early as soon as possible (maybe with a jungle gank too). She will use Q-stun when you go in with your W so do your best to dodge. You will be using a full combo to kill her pre-6 and post-6. You won't have any extra damage to kill her egg. Also her waveclear is extremely hard to match up against post-6 once she gets her ultimate. Try get your jungler to gank as soon as possible so you can get the early snowball.

8

Diana

Diana is a bit of a nasty match up since she can deny your burst with her W. Try bait this out with your Q. At level 6 make sure she never gets a Q on you, otherwise she'll follow up with R and it's very hard to get away from her since she can also deny your W with her E. Look for open spaces when her W is on cooldown.

Introduction

Hi, my name is Fuzzmonkey. I've been a League of Legends player since pre-season 4. I've mained Mid lane since season 5 and mainly played LeBlanc since. I found that she was the champion that suited me the most since I mainly played assassins across all other types of games. I peaked Diamond 2 at the highest in Season 6, but always hung around Mid Diamond since then. My goal at the moment whilst LeBlanc has been reverted is to hit Masters, and will be updating this guide regularly to show you guys that even you yourself can get to where you want to be in SoloQ with her. And yes this is my first guide.

I am currently Diamond 3 on EUW. I stream everyday on my Twitch channel where I teach my audience how to play LeBlanc and League in general. Feel free to come over and ask me anything! I'd be glad to answer any questions! ^_^

Why LeBlanc?

I mean, who doesn't like dashing round the map one shotting people. Like, c'mon...

Since I started playing League I wanted to find a type of assassin which could do it all, and LeBlanc had multiple reasons as to why I wanted to start maining her:

- Auto attack animation makes it hard to farm- Falls behind if not farmed up well- Squishy- Extremely high skill cap- Hard to carry with

Here you can find some short of the montages that some Youtubers have done of me.NOTE: THESE MONTAGES ARE MAINLY CLIPS OF ME USING THE REWORKED LeBlanc

Summoner Spells

Ignite and Flash

Since LeBlanc is aggressive in lane, you should take Ignite so you're able to snowball easier, roam and help your team mates. You pretty much always want to take Flash as well. Since the revert, LeBlanc was originally better taking Teleport but, because she lost some of her split push potential, it's now better to apply more kill pressure on your opponent with Ignite.

Teleport

This summoner is not so bad if you are unable to apply kill pressure on your opponent during laning phase. If you're decent at making Teleport plays with previous experience, this can also be another reason to take it. Otherwise, as stated above I would almost (90% of the time) take Ignite.

Cleanse

Probably the next best summoner spell after Teleport but only take this if you're really not comfortable around hard CC champions. With the likes of Sejuani, Rammus, Skarner and Amumu in the jungle this summoner can be useful. Also against mid laners such as, Veigar, Morgana and even Twisted Fate it could potentially help you if you're struggling.

Exhaust

I wouldn't really take this summoner but, if you're really uncomfortable against match ups like Zed, Syndra, Katarina and other high burst assassins then Exhaust can work. But, over the kill pressure you have in lane with Ignite it's completely up to you about how you feel with the particular match up.

Ghost, Heal and Barrier

Barrier could work in the same way Exhaust is used, but in most circumstances Exhaust just does a better job at cutting the damage that assassins dish out. Personally, none of these summoners have a significant use with LeBlanc. You would potentially be negating a lot of your kill pressure/roaming potential if you were to take one of these. I would highly suggest sticking to one of the above summoners which I have given a reason for taking.

Runes

Below, you will find the runes that I particularly think are the best runes to run on the current LeBlanc. Towards the bottom of this section I have added Alternative runes bit in case you want to try an alternative set of runes.

Domination - Primary Tree

Same with practically any assassin Electrocute will be your bread and butter rune on LeBlanc. With this rune, you will need to hit all of your pre-6 abilites in order for it to proc. At level 2 you will need to add an auto attack after hitting a successful Q + W combo for Electrocute to proc. As long as you hit 3 of your abilities you should do enough damage to either one shot someone or get them extremely low. Please bear in mind that Ethereal Chains only adds one stack to your Electrocute even when you proc your root on the target.

This is definitely the best choice of rune for LeBlanc. With the guaranteed cooldown on Distortion, you will be able to get the extra magic penetration every time you initiate on to your opponent.

Since LeBlanc's mobility is so effective for roaming and helping round the map, this rune is perfect for her. Once she has been able to fully stack it off of all the Solo and assisted kills whilst roaming, she will gain bonus AP damage to help her for the mid to late game.

This rune will now be the best rune for LeBlanc since the revert. This is due to the fact that you could previously mix the healing passive from Hextech Gunblade and Ravenous Hunter together to heal yourself whilst killing targets. Due to revert and the fact that LeBlanc has now got damage back on her Distortion she no longer needs Hextech Gunblade. This means Relentless Hunter will be the best rune to equip on her. She will certainly be able to roam a lot quicker with the extra movement speed she gains from this rune after fully stacking it.

Sorcery - Secondary Tree

LeBlanc has always been one of the assassin's to have an low ultimate cooldown compared to other assassin's. Using this rune reduces the cooldown even more which is brilliant on her. At rank 3 ultimate with 40% CDR through items, your ultimate will be on an incredible 15 second cooldown. Multiple ult's in one fight!

Likewise with The Ultimate Hat, having all of your abilities on a low cooldown just makes LeBlanc a killing machine let alone a juke machine. With Transcendence you have a very low cooldown on Distortion especially once maxed at level 9. This will make roaming a lot quicker and more damage output in teamfights. PLUS, more jukes!

Alternative runes

In the higher elo's and pro play, wards are a must and most will buy one every time they back. So, you will start to notice that a lot of people will switch out Eyeball Collection for Zombie Ward. Another reason is because you won't be acquiring as many kills in the higher elo's, so fully stacking Eyeball Collection probably won't happen the majority of the time.

You can also swap out either Transcendence or The Ultimate Hat for Celerity. Main reason for this is to help with roaming. Since LeBlanc is a very big roaming champion, prioritising movement speed over %CDR is a preferred for players who do like to roam a lot. Again, you will be sacrificing CDR which could be the difference in having an ability up in team fight (and potentially killing someone) than waiting an extra few seconds for an ability to come up (and potentially missing out on a kill).

Abilities

Below you can find LeBlanc's abilities. I will be explaining what they do, what order to max and how to effectively use them.

Ability Sequence

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

As mentioned above, you pretty much always want to max Distortion> Sigil of Malice> Ethereal Chains. This is because her Distortion is reverted and now deals massive damage and provides mobility, the perfect assassin ability. Next is Sigil of Malice since this will be where you get your burst from due to the mark damage on her Q. As always, Ethereal Chains will be the last to max since you're not always guaranteed to hit a chain whereas your Q and W are much easier to hit. Laning phase is also difficult to hit chains as well, especially if your opponent is standing behind minions all the time.

Mirror Image

This is LeBlanc's original passive. When LeBlanc falls below 40% maximum health, she becomes stealthed for 1 second and creates a clone of herself, which lasts for 8 seconds or until killed.

To cut to the chase, this is LeBlanc's way of saying "guess which one I am". When LeBlanc is stealthed, this means she is totally invisible (cannot be revealed by a Control Ward). Once unstealthed both you and a clone will be running. This is now your chance to try and 'juke' the opponent(s). You will be able to control the clone with ALT+Right click, but won't be able to control your actual LeBlanc until you let go of the ALT key. So if you're attempting an effective juke, make sure that you have already started to position your actual LeBlanc before you start controlling your clone.

Sigil of Malice

Deals magic damage and applies Sigil of Malice for 4 seconds.
Damaging the marked target with any other ability consumes the Sigil, dealing bonus magic damage.

This is LeBlanc's bread and butter ability. Any other ability that is used within the 4 seconds of the sigil being on the target, will detonate the sigil and do Sigil of Malice mark damage + the ability used damage. This is what creates massive burst damage and will either leave your opponent very low or one shotting them (depending on how fed you are).

Every time that you do go in to damage your opponent try to make sure that there is a sigil on your target before using another ability, this will really help with your all-in's during laning phase too.

Distortion

Dashes to target location, dealing magic damage to enemies in the target area.
For the next 4 seconds, she can activate Distortion again to return to her starting location.

LeBlanc's mobility + lots of damage spell. This can be used in multiple ways but must always be used with caution, as this could be casted at the wrong time and get you into a lot of trouble. Positioning correctly with this spell during skirmishes/team fights can scare your opponents and give them very little time to react to your 'assassination potential'.

Use your Distortion to jump over walls to surprise your enemies and use it to get away from your opponents too if you seem to get caught in a bad position.

Remember that since this ability now has big base damage, it will also be your source for waveclearing. With the new Luden's Echo this has made LeBlanc's waveclear a hell of a lot easier because of the base damage revert + the Luden's Echo passive damage. So make sure to utilise this combination to maximize ability efficiency.

Ethereal Chains

Launches a chain that shackles the first unit hit to LeBlanc, dealing magic damage and granting True Sight of the unit.
If the target remains shackled for 1.5 seconds they are rooted for 1.5 seconds and take magic damage.

This is LeBlanc's only form of CC and is the hardest ability to hit. Hitting your chains is crucial and can be the difference between you saving yourself and getting yourself killed if missed. Likewise for getting a kill too.

Your Ethereal Chains are also a way to lock down targets that try to get to your carries. It can also help lock down priority targets as well for your team to finish off if you don't have any other abilities up. Once connecting a chain, chucking in a Sigil of Malice before the chain roots will add a massive amount of burst the to target.

Chains have also been adjusted a little bit since the revert and now have a little less range so your 'assassination potential' will require you to be a little closer to your target if you're still looking to assassinate from a distance.

Mimic

LeBlanc mimics her most recent spell, casting it again.
Each ability’s damage is altered in its mimic form.

Her ultimate ability can be used in so many different ways depending on the situation.
Always bear in mind what ability you used last just in case you accidently use the wrong Mimic ability and end up putting yourself in a bad situation.

Using the Mimic version of your Sigil of Malice will add a lot of burst damage to the next normal ability used. This can also be used to surprise the enemy too, since the mark damage on the ult version of your Sigil of Malice in empowered as well.

A Mimic version of your Distortion is mainly used for either escape or getting to the back line to kill a carry. Sometimes if you see the enemy team grouping up extremely close together, you can double Distortion on top of them to deal a lot of damage for your team to then finish off. This is risky and will leave you vulnerable with no escape and can get you killed. This can depend if you used it from over a wall or not.

I particularly only use the Mimic version of Ethereal Chains if I am looking to lock someone/multiple targets down. Since LeBlanc specialises in single target damage it's very unlikely that this version of Mimic would be used. Again, this can be situational and depending on if the enemy team are running a 'protect the carry composition', running a lot of tanks or even multiple gapcloser champions, such as Elise, Camille and many more.

Items

Below, I will be showing you what items you can buy and will give a brief description about why the item can be good/situational/bad on LeBlanc

Early game items

Doran's Ring

As with most mages/AP assassin's Doran's Ring is the standard starting item as it gives AP, HP and +5 mana regen every 5 seconds. Since LeBlanc didn't get any mana buffs in patch 8.9, I still believe that this should still be your starting item since she gets quite mana hungry. You will also take 2 Health Potion's to help you sustain HP in lane. If you get ganked extremely early on and are forced to back early, I would highly recommend buying a The Dark Seal. This item is extremely gold efficient and will help you survive longer during laning phase since the passive gives you a +25% extra healing from your Health Potion's.

Lost Chapter

This is the base item for any AP laner. It gives AP, mana, +10% CDR and even a mana regen passive on leveling up, all for an incredible 1300g. This will sustain you easily through the rest of your early laning phase. And it 100% definitely a first back purchase. Even without the passive on this item it is still 112% gold efficient which makes it a 'must buy' on your first proper back.

Refillable Potion

This again is a very good item to get if you ever have a spare 150g on an early back. It refreshes every time you go back to base and it means you never have to buy Health Potion's again. I would not recommend buying this past the 12+ minute mark though. Don't be afraid to sell any leftover Health Potion's that are in your inventory just to buy this.

Control Ward

I can't urge you guys enough to buy one of these every time you back. Wards win games and save lives as they say. Whenever you go back and you have a spare 75g, buy one and just place it somewhere around your mid area, just to get coverage, this WILL save your life multiple times throughout a lot of games.

Core items

Luden's Echo

The core of all items. It gives massive AP, lots of mana and +20% CDR. Plus with the added passive that Riot added a while ago, it really helps with LeBlanc's waveclear. You can now Distortion a minion wave with this item and the passive will clear the caster minions for you. The melee minions should be just low enough that all you'd have to do is auto them to death.

Sorcerer's Shoes

These are the boots that you want to be buying the majority of the time as they will help with your damage output. If you need the extra magic penetration mixing these with your Sudden Impact rune and Morellonomicon (if purchased) will help with all the MR (if the enemy team decides to stack it).

Rabadon's Deathcap

This will definitely be either your 2nd or 3rd item as of now. With the recent nerfs to Void Staff you will need a earlier power spike to dominate the mid game. Deathcap received a 5% AP increase to it's passive, which also makes it super gold efficient, even without the passive it's still super worth. I do also believe that even if you have to build another item before this, Rabadon's Deathcap is still a must buy no matter what. You should definitely have it somewhere in your build.

Void Staff

As mentioned above, this should almost definitely be built every single game too since +40% magic penetration is still very strong. You don't have to build this straight after Rabadon's Deathcap if the enemy team is not stacking Magic resist. Feel free to purchase this item later.

Situational items

Zhonya's Hourglass

As defensive as it gets to be honest. It doesn't have to just be built because the enemy team is full AD but it can really save your life too with only a 2 minute cooldown. It can negate things like Karthus's Requiem, Syndra's Unleashed Power, Veigar's Primordial Burst and Fizz's Chum the Waters. I don't recommend building this early unless you are really struggling in lane against an AD mid laner like Zed, Talon etc. I would still say that purchasing this item even towards late game is still worth - it could save your life.

Morellonomicon

So this is an early purchase especially after Luden's Echo if you're going up against a Vladimir, Swain or any champion that has a self-healing/healing effect on them due to the Grievous Wounds passive. Other than that I would normally purchase this item around 3rd-4th depending on how much magic resist my opponents have. If there is minimal MR, I would definitely purchase this 3rd instead of Void Staff since flat magic penetration is still really good.

Banshee's Veil

This is a great item if you're afraid of being bursted down yourself i.e Fizz, Syndra. Banshee's Veil is well-known for it's spellshield passive which blocks a single ability which could potentially save your life if your opponent wasn't able to get their full combo off on you. It works great against CC champs like Sejuani, Elise, Zac, heck even Blitzcrank as it can stop one major ability which CC you to death.

Liandry's Torment

I'm going to be completely honest, this is EXTREMELY situational and would very rarely purchase this item, I just put it in here just in case some people wanted to ask about it. This item is specifically only helpful if 3+ members of the enemy team are stacking health. A comp like, Kled, Zac, Ryze, Varus and Braum would probably be a time I'd purchase. Even then, I'd still prioritise magic pen if the enemy team were to stack magic resist.

Hextech Protobelt-01

So a lot of people have been asking about building this instead of Luden's Echo. The only positives to building Hextech Protobelt-01 is that it has a active (used for extra burst damage) and it gives health. The reason as to why I think Luden's Echo is the superior item is because, it offers double the %CDR than Hextech Protobelt-01, it has +500 mana which is needed as an AP caster and it offers an extra +30 AP. Another small thing I'd like to add is the fact that Luden's Echo is nearly 2% more gold efficient than the Hextech Protobelt-01 (without the passive's) which makes it a better first item since you're getting more 'bang for your buck' as you could say. The Hextech Protobelt-01 active also has static cooldown of 40 seconds whereas, the Luden's Echo passive can be charged and used multiple times during this time span, which makes it easier to clear waves multiple times.

Hextech GLP-800

Another item that has been requested for me to explain why it can/can't be built over Luden's Echo. So yes, the stats are pretty similar to Luden's Echo with a 10 AP difference. Again, the active passive's still make quite a big difference. Clearing waves with Luden's Echo is much more efficient, and the charge is up pretty much every 5-10 seconds which means you can get multiple procs whilst Hextech GLP-800 is still on cooldown. This again is huge when it comes to deciding whether to clear the wave or going in for the enemy champion. Hextech GLP-800 can only do one of these during that space of time, whereas Luden's Echo can do both during this time.

Combo's

Below you will find a short video of me breaking down LeBlanc's combo's and how to effectively use them.

Laning Phase

Laning phase is where you'll be trying your best to snowball, if not don't worry. Roaming will hopefully get you fed instead. The main thing about LeBlanc's laning phase which a lot of people seem to hate, is her auto attack animation. Personally if you're struggling to last hit minions with LeBlanc's auto, go into practice tool and set yourself a goal of i.e 70 cs by 10 minutes. Keep going until you notice improvement, then take it into ranked. Once you feel comfortable cs'ing with LeBlanc, you'll find laning phase a lot easier.

Until LeBlanc gets her Luden's Echo wave clearing is quite hard, so you're not going to be able to roam unless you push faster than your opponent. When you do manage to get a wave pushed faster than your opponent, keep in mind that there are 3 things you can do. Ward up somewhere in their jungle to get some vision on where their jungle could be, roam to other lanes to help out or go back and buy.

If you think you're being ganked or are at risk of being ganked, ALWAYS save your Distortion and don't use until you know where the jungler is. This way you'll save yourself from having to use any summoner spells.

Team fighting

LeBlanc doesn't specifically excel at team fights but in small skirmishes. Roaming around with 1 or 2 people can make it easier for her to catch someone out and assassinate them without having to worry about 4 other people jumping on her.

The best thing about LeBlanc when team fighting is being able to jump in and out without getting touched at all. This will separate the good LeBlanc's from the bad LeBlanc's. Keep practicing the combo's that I've put in the combo's video above.

Patience is key with LeBlanc. If a team fight is about to erupt, don't be afraid to hide and wait behind your team mates or behind a wall. You want to wait for the perfect moment until you find a carry that's out of position so you can go in for the kill. When the time is right, jump out onto your opponent with one of the combo's (depending on your position) and do as much damage/one shot. Your objective is to get in, kill a carry, and get out. Remember if you're not able to pick off anyone you are pretty useless as LeBlanc and will need to farm to catch up.

Always keep and eye on your Distortion pads too when you're looking to return to them. Make sure that there are no nearby enemies that can get onto you otherwise you'll most likely ping yourself back into a death trap.

As explained in the combo's video above, Ethereal Chains to stop tanks/gap closers getting onto your carries can be a effective way to play a team fight too. If you really are struggling to get onto an enemy carry use this technique instead, this way you'll be helping the team out anyway.

Another important thing is the moment leading up to team fights. Purchasing a Control Ward and setting it up where an enemy champion could walk up to kill it is a great way of picking someone off. At this point you've already won the team fight since you've now made it a 5v4. Go for an objective if there is one available on the map i.e Baron/Dragon/towers/inhibitors.

Conclusion

That just about sums it up for my LeBlanc guide. I hope you guys learnt something from this and I will definitely be adding to it very often to keep it up-to-date.
If you have any questions please feel free to post them and I'll get back to them as soon as possible.

If you'd like to see my LeBlanc gameplay you can follow my Twitch channel channel. I stream everyday from 12pm GMT onwards! I play her most of the time on stream whilst answering all of your questions in chat!

Updates to Guide

Updates to show you guys what I've added to the guide and when I did them:

18/04/2018 - LeBlanc got disabled on first day of 'mini-revert' (LUL). Added Galio, Yasuo, Akali and Azir to match ups. Corrected a few spelling/grammer mistakes.

08/05/2018 - Updated Doran's Ring and Lost Chapter because of the 8.9 changes. Will be deciding soon on the The Ultimate Hat rune change since I've heard it's getting removed in 8.10. Will update closer to the time though.